TITLE
The washout at Thomas River Hut taken after the second flood in March 2019
Maintenance Status
Thomas River Hut is one of the more recent community projects Permolat has undertaken. Geoff Spearpoint obtained some Back Country Trust funding to carry out repairs and trackwork and completed this work in November 2016. In 2018-19 a series of floods washed out a large section of riverbank and left the Hut perched next to the River. DOC cleared some forest up on higher ground and winched the Hut out of harms way and in September 2019 Geoff, DOC, and friends flew in and moved it onto the new site and set it back on piles. In September 2020 the crew went back in and attached the chimney and Geoff and Jane Morris went in again in October in an unsuccessful attempt to get the roof painted. Prior to all of this Thomas River Hut hadn't had much in the way of maintenance for a couple of decades. It's a low-use hut due to the Thomas catchment being on the TR of the Haast River. A crossing by raft or jet boat being necessary for foot access and so it's no surprise that most visits are fly-ins, usually hunters or fishers. The route up the valley to the Hut is is a mix of track and river travel up the TL of the valley.
Location
Haast Catchment, Thomas River. NZTopo50 Map: BY12 Grid/NZTM2000 coordinates: E1294389, N5132955 (BY12 944 329). Altitude 160m. The hut is now sited on a low terrace above the river. There are large still pools and gravel flats further upstream, while downvalley the river tumbles through rocky bouldery stretches of beech kamahi forest. The mossies up here can be bad so it is recommended that sprays, repellent and nets are necessary.
Access
Once across the Haast the true left riverbank is followed. There are forested flats from Law Flat to about opposite Trig Creek above which a track leads is followed to the Hut. This bit was cut and marked by Geoff and his crew in late 2016. Allow 4-5 hours to the Hut from the Haast River. The river downstream of the Hut is not easily crossable for some distance. An old track up the TL of the river above the Hut was recut and marked up to the first good gravel crossing by Geoff and Co. in 2016.
Thomas River Hut just after being being built: Photo Derrick Field
Type
Thomas River Hut is a standard NZFS 6-bunk SF70 design with open fire built about 1972.
Condition
Thomas River was in reasonable condition when Geoff first inspected it in 2015. In 2016 he, Hugh van Noorden and Liz Stephenson flew in for a week and replaced the door latch, hinges, door sill, some external wall cladding, and some of the internal ply lining. They built a new woodshed, replaced the rotten toilet seat, cut back some vegetation, and did a little trackwork. Later in the year Geoff, Liz, Hugh, Tracy-Lee Burkhart, and Peter Fullerton returned and replaced the ridging and skylight. The end window was removed and re-flashed, the Hut painted, and the tracks above and below the Hut recut. The Chimney was reattached in September 2020. Images of the Hut shifting process are at: gowildnz.smugmug.com/Thomas-River-moving-2019/. Geoff and Jane's roof paint ended up on the ground in October after rain set in just after painting finished. The toilet door hinge has broken at the bottom with the top one hanging on by a thread. The door has been propped with some logs to restrain it for the time being.
Thomas River Hut is a standard NZFS 6-bunk SF70 design with open fire built about 1972.
Condition
Thomas River was in reasonable condition when Geoff first inspected it in 2015. In 2016 he, Hugh van Noorden and Liz Stephenson flew in for a week and replaced the door latch, hinges, door sill, some external wall cladding, and some of the internal ply lining. They built a new woodshed, replaced the rotten toilet seat, cut back some vegetation, and did a little trackwork. Later in the year Geoff, Liz, Hugh, Tracy-Lee Burkhart, and Peter Fullerton returned and replaced the ridging and skylight. The end window was removed and re-flashed, the Hut painted, and the tracks above and below the Hut recut. The Chimney was reattached in September 2020. Images of the Hut shifting process are at: gowildnz.smugmug.com/Thomas-River-moving-2019/. Geoff and Jane's roof paint ended up on the ground in October after rain set in just after painting finished. The toilet door hinge has broken at the bottom with the top one hanging on by a thread. The door has been propped with some logs to restrain it for the time being.
Line from the Thomas River to the Matakitaki tops.
Routes
Thomas River Hut can be accessed from Roaring Billy Hut over the Thomas Range, or from the Mataketake Range upriver from the Hut.
The recently built Mataktake Hut on the Range bounding the TR of the Thomas is a likely destination for punters and could be incorporated in some kind of circuit that includes Thomas River Hut. One line recently used by Scott Sutherland was through the bush on the true left of Wyllie Creek. Travel though the bush was reasonable with the odd deer trail to follow. It took around two hours to get from the bushline down to the River, and so would probably take three going up. This line ends at a fairly wide and shallow spot where the Thomas can be forded.
Repairs still needed
The toilet door needs fixing. Both hinges need replacing and possibly strengthening DOC know about it and have it in their sights to fix. The roof still needs repainting and the food bench could be replaced with a stainless steel one. Geoff would like to recut an old NZFS wet weather detour track around a swampy area upstream of the Hut and to extend the downvalley track to just below Pile Creek.
Provisions on Site
An axe, two brooms, a metal water bucket, plastic bucket, frypan, and a couple of billies.
Thomas River Hut can be accessed from Roaring Billy Hut over the Thomas Range, or from the Mataketake Range upriver from the Hut.
The recently built Mataktake Hut on the Range bounding the TR of the Thomas is a likely destination for punters and could be incorporated in some kind of circuit that includes Thomas River Hut. One line recently used by Scott Sutherland was through the bush on the true left of Wyllie Creek. Travel though the bush was reasonable with the odd deer trail to follow. It took around two hours to get from the bushline down to the River, and so would probably take three going up. This line ends at a fairly wide and shallow spot where the Thomas can be forded.
Repairs still needed
The toilet door needs fixing. Both hinges need replacing and possibly strengthening DOC know about it and have it in their sights to fix. The roof still needs repainting and the food bench could be replaced with a stainless steel one. Geoff would like to recut an old NZFS wet weather detour track around a swampy area upstream of the Hut and to extend the downvalley track to just below Pile Creek.
Provisions on Site
An axe, two brooms, a metal water bucket, plastic bucket, frypan, and a couple of billies.
